How could this happen?
by NickieThorn
Summary: If you had everything but one thing, and that one thing happened to be love. Would you risk it all? Or would you become someone everyone thinks you are meant to be? A tale of love, and sorrow. DHr.
1. So it begins

Disclaimer:

I do not own anything.

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Hermione Granger was the brightest witch of her year; in fact she was one of the brightest pupils Hogwarts had seen since Voldemort. She was now in her seventh year and of course she had been named Head Girl. She had grown up a lot in the past six years growing up with Harry Potter would to that to a girl. After six years of fighting Voldemort with Harry, she had become a confident young woman. As head girl she had the option of living in the Gryffindor private room. Although it made her sad to think that she would not share a room with her old room mates, she knew it was the best option for her, she had major exams coming up this year and having a private room would ensure her the best study space. Many things might have changed about her, but she was still that miss know it all from first year, and she wanted to have top marks at graduation.

"Hermione?" Someone said jerking her out of her thoughts.

She looked up, "Oh Ron, do you want something?"

She and Ron had dated during the past summer, and although they both loved each other, they just didn't quite fit. Sometimes however when he would look at her, she thought he might kiss her, but he never did.

"We were going to go to our room, well you know since pretty much everyone else has left..." He said slowly. She looked around her and indeed pretty much everyone had gone to bed, there were a few people left at the Slytherin table, including her not so favourite member Draco Malfoy.

"You know what, you guys go ahead, I'll catch up in a few minutes" she said drifting back into her thoughts.

"If you are sure," Ron said slowly.

"I am." She smiled and her best friends left her alone.

Draco looked up and saw Hermione looking at him, his famous smirk appeared on his face. He got up and walked over to her, with his gang in tow.

"What do you think you were looking at mudblood?"

"None of your business, Malfoy." She said as she tried to get up and push her way past them. As she walked by Draco, Draco grabbed her arm and pulled out his wand and lifted her chin with his wand so she could look into his cold eyes.

" I am feeling generous tonight, you get in my way one more time this year, and I mean at all, taking points, giving detentions to anyone in my house, and I will introduce you to a few Slytherin's who don't mind fucking a mudblood." Hermione was about ready to drop to the floor and start crying, but she would not let him see that she took his threats seriously.

"I will not be threatened by a Slytherin," she said through clenched teeth, all the while thinking of a way to get out of the situation, in one piece.

Draco pulled Hermione into him, and whispered into her ear "That's not a threat dear granger that's a promise," as he said that he tightened his grip on her and pushed her roughly causing her to fall. He then spun around his robes billowing after him, in a way that looked so much like his father. Hermione pulled herself into a sitting position, and let the tears come.

After a few minutes Hermione gained control of herself and got up and walked to her new home.

"Unity," she said as her new painting asked her for the password.

What ever she thought her new living space was going to look like was thrown out the window by what met her eyes. She had never seen something so beautiful in her life. Her room had cathedral ceilings, and a whole wall of windows, the moon was shining in and it lit up the room in a soft romantic way. As she walked in further she could see a normal sized fireplace, a couch facing the windows and three different sized doors. Each of the doors were labeled 'Bedroom', 'Bathroom', and 'Gryffindor Common Room' As much as she wanted to continue looking around her new living arrangements, she was dead tired and headed straight for the door labeled Bedroom.

Inside her bedroom she noticed that it looked like her old room except for the fact that everything was twice its size and she was rooming alone. She sighed h_ow am I going to live on my own, _she thought as she changed and climbed into her bed. Looking out the huge windows that were the same as the ones in the common room, she thought about Draco and what he did to her, tears slowly slid from her eyes and fell to the pillow beneath her.

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I hope someone out there liked it. I'm not going to keep going if someone doesn't review. I just want to know that at least one person is reading this. All you have to say is keep going :)

--Nickie Thorn


	2. Slytherin King

Hey guys I'm back, I got my reviews and thought I should update soon. So here it is.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

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Draco Malfoy: Slytherin King.

The sorting hat barely touched his head when he was sorted into Slytherin. That was six years ago, six years ago he was named the Slytherin king, and for that time he never played it down, he was rude, mean and down right cruel. He loved doing horrible things to people, it gave him a sense of power. He could honestly say that he loved being the Slytherin king for the first five years. When Draco walked into Hogwarts for his sixth year, he had changed. He no longer cared what blood a person had, or who their parents where. He had a life changing summer, and as much as he wanted to be his old self, something in him had died, and he was new person. He knew that being a member of Slytherin that he couldn't let people find out that he had changed, not now, not until he left Hogwarts for good, and maybe not even then. He was a prisoner in his own head, and he craved to show people that he wasn't to be looked down upon.

Draco Malfoy was what you could call beautiful and he knew it. Every morning he would walk down to the great hall and at least five heads would turn, girls would giggle, and boyfriends would pull their girlfriends closer.

"Good morning Draco," said Pansy Parkinson, Draco's current girlfriend. He simply nodded and sat down. He almost truly cared about her. Almost. Besides his mother the only other person Draco could possibly care for was Pansy.

"I really wished you had come to me last night," Pansy said as she leaned in and tried to get a kiss. Draco however pulled away and picked up a piece of toast and began eating.

"I'm sorry Pansy," Draco replied not really meaning it. "I was tired and busy, Granger got in my way, and I had to deal with her, maybe tonight ok?" Pansy nodded and Draco stood up and gave pansy a kiss on the cheek and headed towards his favorite class: Potions.

Draco entered his potions classroom, and sat down in the back row, his normal spot. He looked around and saw that Granger was the only other person in the room. She was sitting in the front row, all of her books out and her cauldron set up. He smirked to himself _to bug Granger or not to bug Granger _he thought, she hadn't done anything to warrant him to get in her face again, but then again she was a mudblood, and even though he didn't really care about that people might wonder why he didn't harass her.

"Hey Granger," Draco yelled. She didn't turn around, she didn't even flinch. "Mudblood, I'm talking to you, turn around and face your superior."

"Ha," Hermione chuckled, "the day a Slytherin is my superior is the day hell freezes over."

"Oh yeah Granger? Then test me, or have you forgotten my little promise from last night?" With that Hermione spun around, fear shinning in her eyes, that only lasted a second before rage replaced it.

"If you and any of your goons touch me again, and that will be the last thing any of you do."

"Now now Granger don't make empty threats," Draco had never seen her so mad before, and it was thrilling.

"No dear Malfoy, that wasn't a threat, it was a promise," Hermione used almost the exact words Draco used last night, but yet they didn't have the same effect. Just as Draco was about to reply, Harry and Ron walked in each taking a place beside Hermione. Draco didn't know why but he let the conversation drop, and Hermione spun back around and began talking to Harry and Ron liking nothing ever happened.

After class was over, Draco had a free period and so he headed to library not because he had any studying to do, but because he needed to make sure a certain book was still in it's spot. Draco walked to the very back of Hogwarts massive library, and pulled out a book named '_rex rgis specialis_' which roughly translated to '_The Kings Secrets._' No one knew that it existed, and he prayed that no one would know that it did. Even though Draco was a different person then he was a few years ago, he still wasn't weak, and he still had his pride, he knew that if anyone found this book, his life would be over. Draco kept a fair amount of secrets to himself, one of them being that since he started school last year, he had been keeping a diary, he had so many thoughts and new feelings that he never felt before and he needed a place to keep them all. He couldn't leave it in his room, for fear someone might find it, and read it. Draco opened it and turned to his first entry:

_September 10_

_I don't know why this is happening to me, all I want is to be myself. What happened to me this summer, should not have changed me at all, in fact it should have made me even sadistic. I can't explain it, and I don't understand it. What happens if I don't like who I am turning into? What if I can't stop it? There are so many things I don't understand._

Draco still felt as lost as he did when he first started his diary, nothing had really changed. He still could not understand how one summer could change his soul. A few times he thought that maybe the person he was now, was the person he always was, but was being the son his father truly wanted.

_September 11_

_It's been a year since I started this dairy and nothing has changed. I'm not who I used to be, it rips my heart out to make an innocent person cry because of what I do to them. But I can't stop, I won't stop. I crave for something, or someone, I don't know what or who it is that I need. But I will find out, maybe it's the key to getting my life back._

Draco put his diary back on the self and walked out of the library heading to his next class, the rest of the day flew by, and as he sat down for dinner, he couldn't help but look over to the Gryffindor table and watch Hermione, Ron, and Harry, who were all laughing at something Ron had did. Jealousy sparked through him, and he got angry with himself, what did they have that he didn't have? Nothing he concluded. He looked over to his girlfriend who was sitting beside him, and picked up her hand and said, "let's go to your room now Pans." Pansy's face lit up and both of them got up and headed to the Slytherin common room hand in hand. What Draco didn't notice was that a certain Gryffindor was looking at him, with a mix of pity and sadness.

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I hope you all liked it, it was a bit longer then the last chapter. Keep reviewing, it makes me write faster...I'm also in the market for a beta, so if you are interested message me. :)

Have a great day.

--Nickie Thorn


	3. Head Duties

Disclaimer:

I do not own anything, but the plot.

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"Come here Hermione, don't be scared."

"No, I don't want to come," she replied.

"Come now," demanded a bone chilling voice.

"No, please don't make me, please." Hermione begged trying to run away, but she found that she could not move backwards. "Look see I can't even move."

"Step forward."

"I can't, I told you I can't move!" exclaimed Hermione.

"I told you to step forward!"

Hermione tried to step forward and to her surprise she could, but when she tried to step back she couldn't. Sheer panic ran through her veins.

"Now Hermione, are you going to come to me, or do I have make you?" As he said that, sharp pains as if she was being stabbed over and over again, pierced her body.

"Please stop, please, someone help me please, someone!"

Hermione was in so much pain, she knew if it continued she would surely go mad. Then a hand wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze tighter and tighter. She tried to fight the person off, but they were much stronger, nothing she did stopped the hand. She was starting to feel faint, then she blacked out.

Hermione bolted up from her dream, gasping for air, a small scream left her lips. Her sheets were wrapped around all of her body including her neck, sweat was dripping down her face, and she was terrified. Hermione unwrapped herself and tried to fall back asleep, after an hour of tossing and turning she gave up, and got dressed. Hermione walked down to the lake, it was dawn and the sun was just beginning to peak over the tops of the trees. She had a lot of thinking to do. As she sat there she tried to make sense of the dream.

"If only I could have seen the persons face," Hermione said out allowed to herself.

The dream had scared her to her core. The more she thought about the dream, the more she came to the conclusion that it was just a horrible nightmare, and she prayed that, that was all it was. She had been a bit paranoid lately, the things Draco had said to her where horrible, he had never been that mean to her before. Sure he had spent six years calling her a mudblood, but that didn't really bug her anymore, she had grown above the childish name calling. His threats were so uncalled for and she wished that they were empty ones, but she knew that they weren't. She hated him, whole heartily hated him. He was so cruel to her. Something inside of Hermione snapped, standing up she grabbed a rock and threw it into the lake as hard and as fast as she could.

"I hate you Draco Malfoy," she screamed out loud to herself.

She dropped to the ground and started bagging her fists into the mud below her. The tears were streaming down her face and she was sobbing. The ground was wet and muddy she was getting dirty, pieces of grass got stuck in her hair, but she didn't care. She just laid there and cried. If she had been looking to her right instead of her left she would have seen a blonde haired Slytherin walking away from his spot hidden behind a large rock, looking almost as upset as she was.

After awhile her sobs stopped, and she went in for breakfast, she said a quick charm so she would look decent, and not covered mud. She had never been that dramatic before, and she hated it. She vowed to herself that she would not let Draco get to her like that again, she was much stronger than that.

"Hermione, why do you have grass in your hair?" Ginny asked, brushing away a piece of grass.

"Oh I was down by the lake and I slipped and fell, I tried to clean myself up a bit but I must have missed a few spots," she lied quickly, sure she had been done by the lake, but she hadn't exactly fallen.

"Why were you down by the lake?" The young red head asked.

"I had a nightmare and couldn't sleep so I went down there to calm down a bit."

"Want to talk about it?"

"You know what, I'm fine, I can hardly remember it, it just rattled me up a bit, that's all."

"If you are sure…?"

"I am."

Ginny looked at Hermione as if she wanted to say more, but she let it drop, and started talking to Harry about Quidditch. Hermione realized that she didn't have any of her books for her first class so she excused herself and got up to leave.

"Look at the mudblood, she is covered in mud, she is really living up to her name," Pansy said, laughing.

"Pansy, if you are going to say something, think about it first, before you make you, and the rest of us look stupid." Draco said slightly irritated.

Hermione heard them both, but chose to ignore them. When she got to her room, she changed her robes, and went to grab her books, when she noticed a letter sitting on her bed.

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_Once again I would like to congratulate you, on your position as head girl, although I'm sure it came as no surprise. This year along with your normal Head Girl duties, and the annual Christmas ball, I want there to be another major event. I will leave it up to you to figure out what you want to do. I expect that you will have a perfects meeting very soon, and yes Miss Granger, you have to invite the Slytherin perfects. I would like a full report on your meeting as soon as you have one, which I suggest you do sooner then later._

_-Dumbledore._

_P.S. Do not forget that you are expected to patrol tonight. Keep your head up for serpents roam free at night._

Hermione sighed, she had forgotten that she had to patrol tonight, she just hoped that the teachers would be nice and not give out too much homework.

Draco had seen Hermione crying by herself at the lake that morning, and it broke him up inside. He had unfortunately grown a conscience and it pained him to see someone in so much pain. He longed to run out and tell her that he was sorry, he hated himself, for feeling this way, he was the Slytherin king, he hated muggle borns but he was, almost starting to care for one. It was way past curfew but he didn't care let them expel him. He couldn't sleep, him and Pansy had a fun night, and she was still sleeping in his bed naked, but he didn't want to lay beside her. So here he was roaming the castle at night in nothing but his boxers and pants. He stopped to look out a window which was facing the lake, the moon lighting up his pale skin. He was fairly built, he spent a lot of time running, and working out. His eyes were a blue-ish gray, but these days were more blue, and now because of the lighting they stood out more then ever. He looked down and saw a huge scar that now was a permanent blemish on his once perfect body. No one knew how he got that scar, he never told anyone, and never would. For him it was showing that he wasn't as brave and strong as everyone believed him to be.

"You should be in bed, Malfoy."

Draco turned around and saw none other then Hermione Granger.

"I should say the same for you."

"I'm doing my head duties."

"Well then I suggest you get to them before Dumbledore sees you talking to me," Draco said turning around to look out the window again, behind him he could hear her sigh.

"Malfoy, I know you hate me, and I know your threats were real, but could you just go to bed?"

Draco didn't answer, and he didn't move either, he just wished she would go away.

"Please Malfoy?"

Draco turned around and looked Hermione right in her eyes, he could see the fear deep inside of them, and he saw them glance down to his arm, where his Death-Eater mark should be. He smirked.

"I'm not a Death- Eater Granger," Draco said bluntly.

"I never said you were."

"But you thought I was, right? Don't lie."

"I did."

"Exactly, not everything is as it seems, you're smart Granger you should know that."

Hermione shook her head, "did you just complement me?"

"No, I stated the truth, I would be an idiot if I didn't accept the fact that you are indeed somewhat intelligent." Draco then saw Hermione look at as his scar, and gasped, it looked a lot worse in the moon light.

"Malfoy…" Hermione began before Draco cut her off.

"Good night Granger," Draco said as he turned and walked off to his room, leaving a very stunned Gryffindor behind him.

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I know, I've updated everyday so far, lol and I'm rather proud of that fact. Please review, they really make my day, and I write more. As you can see this chapter is even longer than the last. I'm still looking for a beta so if you are interested message me.

Have a good evening.

--Nickie Thorn


	4. Her Victor

Draco was not what you would call a hopeless romantic, but he knew how to please a woman and make her feel wanted. Pansy had seemed down in the few weeks that Hogwarts had started, so he planed a romantic dinner for the two of them. He really hoped she would feel better, not because he really cared all that much, but because she had been lacking in the sack, and more then anything he wanted to fix it. The only time Draco felt like his old self was when he was fucking Pansy senseless. He had so much power when it came to her, she would do anything for him, and he loved it.

It had taken him a few days to get everything ready, but he knew the reward would be well worth it.

"Draco, where are we going?" Asked a blindfolded Pansy.

"Just be patient, we are almost there," Draco said as he turned the handle to the room he had set up for the two of them. "Here we are," he said as he removed her blindfold. Pansy gasped. The whole room was coved in silver candles of all different sizes, there were huge pillars that stood 3 feet tall, all the way to tiny tea light candles, white rose petals covered the floor, and leading up to the table set for two was a red carpet.

"Oh Draco," Pansy cried as she walked up to the table which was draped in a red table cloth, on the table were two champagne glasses, two sliver trays containing food, and two identical candle holders that were shaped as snakes, holding two white candles.

Draco knew that anyone woman would have loved to be in Pansy's spot right now, and that Pansy had a lot to live up to, or he would replace her. Pansy walked over to her chair, and Draco pulled out for her like a gentleman. As a Malfoy he was taught to treat women with respect, although now a days his father didn't follow that practice very well. Many times Draco had caught his father with different women, fucking them in him and his wife's bed. Things recently got really bad, and Draco's father had started hitting his wife, leaving her bruised for days.

"I hope you like it, you seemed down lately and I wanted to cheer you up."

"Oh I do like this Draco, I love it," Pansy said as she started eating the pasta that was in front of her, both of them ate in silence, before they knew it dinner was over.

"Draco…" Draco looked up to see Pansy almost in tears.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh Draco I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" He started getting nervous, he had an idea about what she was about to say, but oh boy was he wrong.

"Draco, I think, I think I love you, no I do, I love you Draco."

Draco looked into Pansy's eyes, she wasn't lying, she really did love him. Draco sat there flabbergasted for a few minutes, before he regained his composure.

"Pansy, I don't know what you want me to say…"

"I want you to tell me that you love me, please Draco tell me you love me," Pansy begged.

"I'm sorry…" Draco began.

"Draco please…"

"I'm sorry Pansy I don't love you."

"But you have to, you just have to, all the things I do for you, I do them out of love."

"I don't love you, I'm sorry Pansy."

"Don't you ever talk to me again!" With that pansy flung the table across the room, stormed out, leaving Draco to clean up her mess.

_Well that went well_ he thought to himself. After he finished cleaning up the room, he headed to the library to find his diary.

_Oct 12_

_How is it that someone can love me so deeply, and I can not love her back? I lost her today, I know that for certain, and I feel a bit sad deep down, but my heart is not broken._

_How can people fall in love with me, and I can not return it, not even in the simplest way emotionally?_

_I've figured out what I need, what I crave, and it scares me. I want to love someone. I want to feel love. I want to want someone so badly that I would do anything for them._

_For once in my life I am truly scared._

As Draco was leaving the library a figure stepped out in front of him, it was professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing out so late?"

"I was just doing some homework."

"Well that's lovely and all, but I dear say fifty points from Slytherin, and detention Monday night, now off to bed."

Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny, where all chatting together as they headed down the path towards Hogsmeade. It was their first trip this year and they were all excited to get away from the castle. When they got to Hogsmeade they all deiced to have Butterbeer, so they headed to The Three Broomsticks were they quickly found a table and ordered.

"So Hermione, what have you been up to lately? We never really get to see you anymore." Harry asked.

Hermione felt slightly guilty, she hadn't spent all that much time with her friends, besides meals.

"Oh you know me Harry, I've been studying a lot, and then my Head Girl duties take up a lot of my time, which reminds me, Ron, we are going to have a perfects meeting next Friday night." Ron nodded.

"That's no excuse mione, we are your best friends," Ginny replied.

"Oh I know, and I am sorry, I promise I will make more time for you guys."

"You better."

"Hermione?"

"Yes Ron?"

"Do you want to take a walk with me?" Ron asked, both Ginny and Harry where looking at Hermione, neither one of them seemed surprised, so she knew he had talked to them about this before hand.

"Um, sure why not," she said standing up. Her and Ron left The Three Broomsticks, they headed towards the outskirts of the village, where it was more wooded, the leaves had almost completely changed, and it was very beautiful. Hermione said a quick spell and a blanket laid out before them, they both sat down.

"So Ron, was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah…"

"What is it?"

"I want to know why we broke up."

"Because, we just don't work, you know that."

"You barely tried, we gave up to quickly."

"I did too try Ronald, I loved you, I wanted us to work out."

Before she knew what was happening Ron kissed Her, hard. She slowly opened her mouth and allowing him entry. Maybe he was right, maybe they did give up too quickly. They kissed for a while, and Ron pushed her down lightly so that he was on top of her. Hermione could feel Ron's erection against her leg, making her feel slightly uncomfortable. Slowly Ron let his hand roam underneath Hermione's shirt, they had never gone this far before.

"Ron," Hermione said lightly, trying to push him up, but he wouldn't stop.

"Ron stop, please."

"Oh come on Hermione, I know this is making you feel good, you can feel that It's making me feel good," and he started kissing her again. This time allowing his hand go underneath her bra, and started to squeeze her breast. Hermione started to panic.

"Ron get off of me now," Hermione begged, all Ron did was squeeze her breast harder then started to kiss her neck. Hermione closed her eyes trying to think of a way to get out of this, when all of the sudden Ron was ripped off of her, and someone punched him in the face. Hermione quickly pulled down her shirt and looked up. Draco Malfoy was standing there, alone. Hermione didn't know what to say, she barely got out a thank you before, Draco took off running.

"Hermione, my nose I think its broken," Ron said as the blood streamed down his face. Hermione looked at him, frankly she didn't care.

"Who did this?" Ron asked. Hermione looked at him with shock, he didn't see Draco. Ron must have blacked out for a moment, and never saw that Draco had punched him.

"Good-Bye Ronald." Hermione turned around to leave, when Ron called after her.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I should have stopped, but you just can't leave me like this… You need to help me," Ron said bluntly like it was her fault that he was laying on the ground with a broken nose.

"Go find Harry." She said and left him there to bleed. She wanted to find Draco, she looked all over Hogsmeade and couldn't find him. Giving up she walked back to Hogwarts, and headed towards the library.

Hermione had a bunch of books in her hand and could barely see, when she was knocked off her feet, her books flying everywhere.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh no that's fine, I should have been looking, but I really couldn't see, and well this is what happens when you can't see," Hermione babbled, and looked up to see who had knocked her over. It was Malfoy.

"Malfoy…" was all she could get out. She looked at him with bewilderment as he bent down and began picking up her books. "Thank you."

Draco stood up, and offered her one of his hands, and as she accepted on, he pulled her to her feet and he handed her some of the books she had dropped and began to walk away.

"Wait, Draco," she said she had never used his first name before and it felt weird. He stopped and turned around.

"Yes?" he said.

"I wanted to thank you, for well both things, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't stopped Ron and well thank you. You saved me."

"Did he see me?"

"Who? Ron? No he didn't and I didn't tell him it was you."

"Do me a favour Granger, Don't tell anyone about me punching him, and don't make me have to do it again."

He then walked off, leaving her stunned. She entered the nearest row of books, unaware that it was the row Draco had just came out of, she sat down by the wall. Why was Draco Malfoy being nice to her? She suddenly started to cry, she had trust Ron so much, and he almost… she stopped herself, he had almost what? Raped her? She didn't think he could do such a thing and yet, he didn't stop when she told him to. Suddenly one of the books caught her eye, crawling over she took it off the shelf; it was a simple black leather book. She turned it over to it's spine and read the title she gasped: _Rex Rgis Specialis_, 'The Kings Secrets.'

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Hey guys I hope you liked it, im going to be late now because i posted this instead of going to work on time :P Please review. 

--Nickie Thorn


	5. The Detention

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

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Hermione gasped, _The King's Secrets_, opening the book she realized that it was a diary. From the first entry she was entranced, she read the diary from the front cover all the way to the latest entry.

_Oct 13_

_I did a completely unselfish act today, and it felt good. I could feel the light pouring into my once black heart, it was tantalizing. This is what doing good feels like. I wonder what would happen if my "friends" where to find out what I did, I would surely be shunned. I still wonder though, am I ever going to be myself again?_

Hermione was impressed, who ever this person was, clearly they were very intelligent. She did however feel bad for this person, she could sense that they wanted to be good, but had to act otherwise. Putting two and two together she figured that they must be a Slytherin, a male Slytherin. Sighing she placed the diary back on itself self, knowing that she would return later to see if she could figure out who the person was.

When Hermione entered her room, she quickly laid down and fell asleep. When Hermione awoke, she laid in the soft morning sunlight thinking about the mystery man that had entered her life. She knew that she could fall in love with who ever it was, the person was so deep and his feelings so raw. She earned to find him, and help him be his true self. Glancing at her magical clock that was mounted in her room, she bolted up, she was already half an hour late for potions, not bothering to shower, she threw on a clean robe, and bolted down to the dungeons. Knowing that she was going to be in trouble she tried to enter the classroom as quite as she could, however that didn't go as planned. Pansy had seen her enter, and had pushed her bag in Hermione's way and Hermione tripped and fell, screaming as she hit the ground.

"Well, well, well, it's nice of you to join us Miss Granger, although I know it must be difficult for someone of your intelligence to show up to such a juvenile potions class," Snape sneered at her. Hermione picked up her books and stood, not looking at Snape.

"I'm sorry professor, I over slept," she said to herself looking down at her desk.

"Detention tonight, and I should say 75 points from Gryffindor, next time Miss Granger do not be late to my class or it will be 200." As Snape punished Hermione she could hear the Slytherin's laughing at her, she knew that Snape could hear them, but he did nothing to stop them. Hermione tried not to cry, Snape had been ruthless to her before, but for some reason it hit home today. Lucky for her, potions was not a double period and before she knew it, she was leaving the classroom. The rest of the day was dull, all she could think of was that diary and who might have written it, taking a short cut she headed to her room.

"Hermione!" Someone called out to her. She turned around, only to see that it was none other then Ron. Hermione spun back around, and quickened her pace, hoping that Ron would get the message and leave her alone. He didn't. He quickly caught up to her. "Hermione would you please stop and talk to me?" Ron asked. Hermione tried to ignore him, but he grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop walking, and look at him.

"Let go of me," she told him.

"Only if you promise not to walk away when I let go."

"I can't promise you that."

"Then I can not let go."

Hermione suddenly realized that they were alone in a very dark corridor, trying not to panic, she prayed that someone would come by, and she could free herself from this situation.

"What do you want Ron?" Hermione asked, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible.

"I wanted to ask why you, you just left me in Hogsmeade." Hermione was flabbergasted, surely Ron realized that he had made a mistake, he said sorry to her yesterday, but maybe he never meant it.

"I said no, and you didn't stop."

"Oh please, Hermione, don't pretend that you didn't like it"

"I did not, now if you would please let go of me, I would like to be on my way" she tried to pull her arm out of his grip, but he would not let go. "Please Ron," she said looking into his eyes. Ron suddenly pushed her up against the hard cold stone wall and lowered his lips onto her's. Hermione tried to push him off, but he would not budge. He slowly deepened his kisses forcing her mouth open, she did not allow her tongue to join in his kisses.

"Mmm Hermione, you taste so good," Ron said moving his mouth down her jaw, to her neck, where he bite her neck roughly.

"Ron, get off of me, now!" Hermione screamed at Ron, making him bite her harder causing her to start bleeding.

"Hermione?" asked a familiar voice, it was Harry.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, relief flooding her body.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing Harry, just me and Hermione snogging, now if you don't mind leaving us alone," Ron said not even looking up at Harry, his lips still rested softly on her neck.

"Harry…" Hermione said in a pleading voice.

"Get off of her Ron," Harry said firmly, he clearly noticed the tears streaming down her face. Ron looked up at Harry and then looking at Hermione, and started laughing.

"This isn't what it looks like mate, we are just having some fun."

"No we are not, get off of me." Hermione said trying to push Ron off, who would still not move.

"Ron come on," Harry said, grabbing Ron's arm and pulled him off of Hermione.

"Thank you Harry," Hermione said as she grabbed her book bag and ran off to her room as fast as she could. As soon as she entered her room, she broke down into heart wrenching sobs. She had barely begun processing what Ron had done to her yesterday, and now he had done it again. How could she have miss placed her trust so badly, sure Ron had always been kind of quite and forceful, but never like this. She felt so dirty. She quickly headed into her bathroom, and striped herself naked, she quickly climbed into her tub, and began to scrub herself raw. She gently touched her neck, and pain shot throw her, the bleeding had stopped, but there was still a good sized cut, and the outside had started bruising.

"Damn him," she screamed out loud her voice echoing in the large room. Then she remembered she had a detention. The only thing she wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep for twelve hours, but now she had to get dressed and face Snape's detention.

_Dear Draco,_

_Due to unforeseen circumstances I am unable to give you, your detention tonight. However professor Snape has offered. He will be expecting you at 7 sharp._

_M. McGonagall _

Draco smiled to himself, detention with Snape was a walk in the park. Draco was Snape's favourite student, chances are he would just tell Draco to be more careful next time, and let him go. Clearly he had forgotten that a certain Gryffindor had a detention with Snape as well.

Draco entered Snape's office at seven exactly, and his eyes immediately landed on a head of long brown hair.

"Sit down Draco," Snape said gesturing towards a small chair. Draco sat down as Snape continued. "Now as two of the top students have felt the need to get themselves into trouble, I feel that it's only necessary that the both of you get sever punishments. You will both be locked in the Great Hall and you will be expected to scrub the floor clean, the muggle way. Miss Granger I expect you to teach Malfoy on how to do it the muggle way," Snape said looking over at Hermione, who simply nodded, she was looking down in her lap. "Off you both go, I don't expect there to be any issues tonight," he said sharply and the both of them got up and headed to the great hall.

Draco was furious, out of all the things he thought he might have to do tonight, cleaning like a house elf was not one of them. Not even like a house elf really, he wasn't allowed to use magic.

As he entered the Great Hall, he noticed that all the tables had vanished, and that there was a single bucket of water and two scrub brushes beside the bucket, in the middle of the room. Walking up the bucket, he picked up the note that was attached to the bucket.

_Dear Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy_

_It is unfortunate that two of Hogwarts best students have chosen to get themselves into trouble, however you will find that once you pick up the cleaning brushes you will not be allowed to move ten feet away from of each other. Take this as a lesson on getting along, and not really a punishment._

_Have a good night._

_--Dumbledore._

"Damn," Draco muttered to himself, he gave Hermione the letter, and allowed her to read it in its entirety before picking up a brush. As soon as Hermione picked up the other one, they could feel magic binding them together. Draco turned and started walking right, and Hermione turned and started walking left, and as soon as Draco walked further then ten feet away from Granger, they were both thrown back, as if an elastic was snapping back. Draco who was carrying the bucket of water, was soaking.

"Just bloody great," Draco was mumbling to himself. Hermione looked over at him, and burst out laughing.

"That's not the greatest look for you there Malfoy," Hermione said laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face. For a moment Draco was got off guard at how beautiful she looked when she was laughing, but he shook it off. Picking up the bucket he dumped what was left on top of her head.

"Malfoy!" She screamed, as she jumped up, she looked just as wet as he did. Now it was Dracos' turn to laugh.

"Oh boy Granger, good thing you aren't wearing white," Draco said through his chuckling.

Suddenly, they both stopped laughing, and looked into each others eyes, Draco could feel his heart start racing, standing up, he walked closer to Hermione. He wanted to kiss her, he had never felt this way about anyone else before and it was a tantalizing feeling. It was as if someone lifted a filter off of his eyes, and for the first time he was seeing clearly. The person standing in front of him was no longer the bushy haired, bucked tooth, mudblood she had been all his life. She was now a beautiful, intelligent young woman, whom he wanted to call his own.

"Malfoy," Hermione said in a soft whisper pulling Draco out of his thoughts, he let his eyes take in every inch of her, it was only then did he notice the cut and bruise on Hermione's neck.

"What happened?" Draco asked raising his hand and touched it lightly. Hermione visibly flinched, but Draco did not lower his hand. Hermione looked down towards the floor, and whispered, "Ron did it."

"He did this to you yesterday?" He asked. Hermione shook her head and Draco could feel his anger rising in his chest. "When?"

"Today, after classes," Hermione whispered.

She looked so ashamed, so embarrassed that she would allow a guy to treat her like that, all he wanted to do was hold her, and kiss her shame away.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger," Draco froze and dropped his hand, Hermione jumped, neither one had heard someone come into the room. Draco turned around and became face to face with Dumbledore.

"Professor," Hermione greeted him, and he smiled down at her, till he noticed her cut and he frowned slightly. Dumbledore looked at Draco then back to Hermione. Draco knew that Dumbledore could feel the passion flowing between, anyone could.

Dumbledore smiled at them, a twinkle in his eye, "well now I see you both have completed your task, ahead of schedule I say, but done none the less, you may both leave."

Draco couldn't understand what Dumbledore was talking about, they had been there for barely an hour, and any one could see that the floor was not cleaned. Draco, however did not want to point that fact out, not having to clean the floor was a bonus.

"Goodnight," Dumbledore said, his robes billowing after him as he walked away.

Draco turned his attention to Hermione, who looked shocked, feeling Draco's eyes on her, she turned to look at him.

"Good night Malfoy," she said, and walked out of the Great Hall, leaving Draco to his thoughts.

* * *

Hey Guys! I'm so sorry for the delay, things have been kinda weird for me lately. This is the longest chapter to date, so enjoy! I really do love your reviews, and I hope you will keep leaving them.

Review:)

--Nickie Thorn


	6. Apologies

Christmas was fast approaching Hogwarts, all the leaves had fallen from the trees and the fall rain was in full swing. Hermione sighed and looked down at the parchment in front of her, planning the Christmas ball was a lot harder then she could have imagined. This year she planed on having it in the forbidden forest. Dumbledore already agreed to talk to the animals in the forest so they could have there ball in peace. There was only two weeks left and she was starting to panic. There was one plus, any homework that the teachers were assigning wasn't due till after the Christmas break, giving Hermione the time to plan properly. Yesterday she had been down to the clearing in the woods that would act as there dance floor, and was amazed at how much larger Dumbledore had made it. She didn't have to worry about the cold ruining the festivities because the heat bubble that would be placed over the dance floor and ten feet into the woods, giving couples a bit of privacy.

She had worked really hard on the ball and she hoped the students would enjoy it. This year it was going to be a masquerade ball. No one was allowed in the horse drawn sleigh without a mask. Of course she would have to think of a back up plan if the rain did not turn into snow soon. For months she had planed on the students arriving at the clearing in a horse drawn sleigh, the forest lined with candles. Hermione was lost in her thoughts when she heard a small knock at her portrait, standing up she walked and opened her door.

"Hi Hermione," said one Harry Potter.

"Oh, hey Harry," Hermione replied."Come in," she said standing aside allowing Harry entry.

They walked over to her couch and sat down, feeling slightly awkward, they really hadn't talked since Harry had pulled Ron off of her a few months ago.

"Busy with the ball?"

"Very."

"Hermione, I want to talk to you about Ron," Harry said looking at Hermione praying that she wouldn't kick him out.

"What about him?"

"Hermione he is sorry."

"I don't care."

"Are you ever going to forgive him?" Harry asked

"Harry, that wasn't the first time he tried to attack me…" She trailed off thinking about what Draco had done for her.

"Oh," was the only thing Harry could say.

"Harry, you are one of my best friends, you will always be one, I will always be there for you, but Ron hurt me, and I will never forget, and I will never forgive him."

"I understand."

"Now, having said that I know that changes our relationship, because Ron his your best mate, but Harry I want nothing to do with him, and that means I really can't hang out with you guys anymore."

"Hermione…"

"I'm sorry Harry, but if you hadn't help me and if Mal… that other person hadn't saved me, Ron would have raped me," that was the first time Hermione had said that out loud and she could feel the tears falling down her cheeks. Harry reached over and pulled Hermione into a hug, and wiped away her tears.

"I'm sorry Hermione," Harry said softly.

"It's ok, I'm ok."

"Are we still going to be friends?"

"Oh Harry of course, just not when Ron is around."

"I'm on your side, Hermione, I hope you know that."

Hermione smiled, she knew she could trust Harry, and it felt so good that he picked her over Ron for once.

"Thank you Harry."

They sat there holding each other, and Hermione cried her eyes out. She knew this was an ending of one chapter and the start of another. Ron would never hurt her again, and it felt wonderful.

After Harry left, Hermione tried to get back to her planning but she couldn't she was too antsy. She picked up her book bag, and headed to the library.

"Stop it, please," cried a voice.

"Stop it, please," mocked another voice.

Hermione quicken her pace, and pulled out her wand.

As she turned the corner, she gasped. The Slytherin gang, which included Draco, had a first year hanging upside down, and was spinning him around. Hermione looked to see who was there, Pansy, Blaise, Goyle, and Grabe. She knew she was faster and smarter then all of them expect Draco. Looking over at him she noticed that he didn't really seem to be having as much fun as the rest of them, in fact he looked sort of bored and remorseful.

Hermione stepped out into the clearing, her voice clear and calm, "put him down."

"Now why would we want to do that, mudblood?" Pansy said, laughing.

"Put that wand away, Granger, you might hurt yourself," Blaise said behind Pansy, at that Draco started laughing. Hermione turned and faced him.

"What's so funny?"

"Just Blaise thinking that he would be able to hex you."

Blaise's jaw dropped, "Malfoy are you defending her?"

"No you idiot, you just honestly think you would be able to hex her? You are not me, there is no way you could get her," Draco said smirking.

"Put him down," Hermione said again, this time her voice was a bit more forceful.

"Relax Granger, you ruined our fun anyways," Draco said as he released the boy and let him fall to the ground. Hermione rushed over to the boy to make sure he was ok. When Hermione looked up again the Slytherin's were walking away, Draco turned around and looked back, and mouthed something that looked like "sorry."

When Hermione finally made it to the library she headed straight to the diary, she turned it to the last entry she had read and was happy to see that there was a new one.

_Dec 10_

_Father has made it clear that I will not be welcomed home this year, but I am not allowed to have people know the real reason I will not be going home. I am to lie. Another lie. I wonder if I should go the Christmas ball this year… the head girl this year has put a lot of work into it, and it should be fun. Can I even have fun anymore? The idea of having fun seems so foreign to me._

Sighing she put the diary down and headed back to her room.

Draco had no idea what he was doing, he had no idea why he cared so much, and he had no idea why he was sitting outside of Hermione's room waiting for her to return. Over the past few months Hermione and Draco's relationship had shifted quite a bit, he no longer tortured her with name calling, or made fun of her in anyway. She no longer participated when Harry would make fun of Draco's family, she would smile at him politely when no one else was looking, and he would return them.

"Draco," said a very shocked Hermione.

"Granger," Draco said nodding at her, Hermione walked past him and opened up her portrait.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked.

Draco didn't say anything but walked into her room anyways, he looked around, and realized that the Slytherin's got the short end of the string, her home was amazing. Nothing like the Malfoy manor, but a far cry from the Slytherin dungeons.

"So Malfoy what do you want?"

"I um... I wanted to know how you where?"

"Why would you want to know how I was?"

"I was just being polite."

"Well I don't need you too be, do Malfoy's even know how to be polite?" Hermione snapped at him.

"Relax Granger."

"Don't you dare tell me to relax, for years you have made fun of me, hurt my feelings, kicked me when I was down, and now you have the nerve to come here and ask if I'm alright?" Hermione screamed at him, years of anger towards him was flooding out of her. "I've never been in more pain in my life then the day you first called me a mudblood, you shattered my world, do you have any idea how much I hate you? Do you?"

"No."

"I hate you more then I've hated anyone else in my entire life, I hate you more then I hate Ron."

"No you don't."

"What do you mean I don't?"

"If you hated me more then you hated Ron, you wouldn't be talking to me right now," Draco said not seeing what was about to happen. Hermione lifted her hand and slapped Draco across the face. Hard.

"What was that for Granger?" Draco asked placing a hand on his stinging face.

"I… I…I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me, are you ok?" Hermione asked stepping closer to check Draco's face.

"I'm fine," he said as he lowered his hand, and Hermione could see the mark that would bruise his face, before he knew what happened, Hermione was on the floor crying her eyes out.

"Maybe I should leave," Draco said as he turned to leave.

"Draco," Hermione said and Draco turned around to face her.

"Why are you being nice to me?

"I don't know," he answered as he walked over to Hermione and sat down in front of her.

Hermione looked into Draco's cold eyes, and for the first time in her life she saw something different, it was barely there but it was, a sign of warmth.

"You've changed."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For ever hurting you."

"Oh Draco," Hermione placed her hand on Draco's red face from where she had slapped him. Suddenly reality hit Draco and he jumped up, running out of Hermione's room as fast as he could, and ran outside to the pond. The snow had just started falling and Draco sat at the edge letting the tears fall. Could it possibly be the one thing he was looking for, he was going to get from the one person he could not touch? How could it be that the love he so desperately wanted, was going to come from Hermione?

* * *

I know I know, a boring chapter, but it was needed, a filler chapter if you think about it. It opened the door to there future relationship. I updated quicker then last time. I'm trying to update at least once a week if I can. Ohhh and I would like to thank you all for pointing out a spelling error cough cause no one did :P In chapter four, Ron has a erection, and I typed in rejection, and no one pointed it out :P haha. It's all fixed now.

Review :D

Till next time,

--Nickie Thorn


	7. The Ball

The weeks to the Christmas ball had flown by, and tonight was the night. Dumbledore had insisted that Hermione not help with the set up, so she could enjoy the magic of the night along with everyone else. Hermione never looked so beautiful; she was wearing a long muggle evening gown. It clung tight in all the right places, giving her an hour glass figure, and in the back was a small elegant train. Her dress was the most fabulous shade of blue, making her dark eyes pop. She wore her long hair straight with a few curls at the end. Her make up was quite simple, just a light layer of pink eye shadow, and black mascara. Because her dress tied around her neck, she couldn't wear a necklace, so instead she wore a sliver, diamond laced bracelet that sparkled in the light. Very people knew how wealthy Hermione's parents really were. On her feet she wore simple sliver heals. Hermione looked in the mirror one last time before she picked up her mask, which was sliver, and had blue crystals on the left side, leaving the right side bare. She said the spell that would make it stay on till she removed it again with magic. She smiled, she looked beautiful, and the best part was that no one would know who she was. She looked over to check the time, and gasped, she was running forty-five minutes late, she had to run, or she was going to miss the last sleigh.

She ran as fast as she could in her heels, and as she entered the foyer, she could see one sleigh left, "wait" she cried out, as the sleigh was about to leave. Its passenger heard her cry and told the driver to wait.

Hermione ran over and climbed into the sleigh, "Oh thank you so much, it would have been horrible to have to walk all the way to the ball."

It was fiercely cold outside, and she looked over at her passenger who was staring at her.

"May I?" She asked.

"Pardon?"

"The blanket, I'm a bit chilly may I share it with you?"

Her passenger looked over at her and saw the Goosebumps on her arm, and opened up the blanket, and placed it over her and himself.

"So no date?" her mysterious passenger asked. She looked over at him, and something was so familiar with him, the way he held himself, the confidence in his voice, she wished she could point him out.

"No not this time," she said and sighed.

"I find it hard that someone as beautiful as you doesn't have a date."

"My my sir," she said smiling, "quite the charmer aren't you?"

Draco looked at the beautiful lady sitting beside him, and tried to place her. Surely he would have noticed someone so beautiful before tonight. He saw that she was smiling at him, and said "No charm my lady, only the truth." He could see her looking him up and down, he had gone all out tonight. He wore a simple black dress robes made out of silk, a diamond clip held his robes on. His mask was silver like his passengers, but his had embellishments made out of black jewels all over it. His hair hung lose and free, and he felt very sexy. As they rode down towards the forest, he could see a lit path, it was almost as breathe taking as his passenger was.

"This is amazing, Hermione really out did herself," Draco said out loud.

"Excuse me?" Hermione said, wondering if he knew who she was.

"The head girl, Hermione Granger, she did this."

"Oh yeah… I knew that" said his Hermione.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the dance floor, Draco stepped out of the sleigh and offered his hand out to her, so she get out safely. As soon as Hermione stood up, the crowd became silent.

"Well my dear, it seems that you are drawing a lot of attention to us," Hermione blushed. Draco could see his mysterious women blushing underneath her mask, and it made him laugh.

"No need to blush, you must know how ravishing you look."

Hermione said nothing, but took Draco's hand, and stepped out. The second their skin touched, it was as if every cell in his body had come to life, he had never felt so alive in his life.

"Oh my," said the women, she had felt it too.

"Care to join me?" Draco asked, putting out his arm for her taking.

"Love too," she said hooking her arm with his.

Hermione could not believe what was happening, she knew he had felt the spark of energy that they shared when he helped her out of the sleigh, and now she was going to eat with this stranger, whom she had no who he was. Draco pulled out her chair as they reached there table.

"Thank you," she said and put her napkin in her lap.

"If I could have your attention," said one Dumbledore, all of the students stopped talking and turned there attention to their headmaster. "Now as this is a masquerade ball and I don't want anyone's identity given away unless they choose so, I will read the speech that our head girl wrote."

Dumbledore cleared his throat, a few of the students laughed. "First of all I would like to thank Dumbledore for allowing the ball to happen in this unique location, having the ball outside in nature has been a dream of mine for a few years now, and I am happy to share it with all of you. I would also like to thank all of the perfects for there help. For many of us this is our last Christmas at Hogwarts, and I wanted to be the last Christmas ball to be a blast. Now on to the food!"

Everyone clapped, and Hermione felt proud of herself. Their food magically appeared on the table, everyone had something different. Hermione had bewitched the plants to serve what ever food that person was craving the most. On Hermione's plate was spaghetti, and on Draco's was a sirloin steak. They sat in silence but it was never uncomfortable, just looking at each other they were having a full conversation. Dinner concluded with a piece of cheesecake for Hermione, and a slice of chocolate mousse cake drizzled in a raspberry sauce for Draco.

The music started playing and people were dancing to a fast pop dance. Hermione saw Ron dancing near her, she knew it was him because no one could miss his hair, it was unmistakable. She then spotted Harry and Ginny dancing, both of them had removed their masks, and were getting pretty close to each other, Hermione smiled, they both deserved a bit of love.

Draco was watching Hermione and looked to see who she was smiling at, Harry, and Ginny, this must mean she was a Gryffindor, did that bug him? No not really, maybe in the long run if this turned into something then just one night it might be, but he didn't dwell on it.

Tonight he was going to have fun and be the person he was truly now, nothing would take away his one night to be free. The music changed to a soft slow song, he stood up and offered his hand to Hermione.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked, as Hermione looked at him she smiled and took his hand. He led her out to the dance floor, and then wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. He could smell her shampoo and it was intoxicating. He felt Hermione rest her head on his hard chest and it felt wonderful. He never wanted the song to end, this moment felt so close to perfection. Hermione lifted her head up and looked into Draco's eyes. For the first time that night he noticed how dark and rich they looked. They were brown, but not a boring brown; her eyes almost looked like tiger eyes.

Hermione looked into her strangers eyes for the first time that night, and she saw the purest blue eyes she had ever seen, they were so blue they looked grey. She found that she could not stop looking at them. She knew she had seen them before, if only she could remember. She needed to remember. Her stranger then lifted his hand up to her face and pushed away the hair that was in her face. Draco then leaned in and went to kiss her, when the music suddenly changed and someone hit him making him loose his balance and fall on the floor. Hermione burst out laughing.

That laugh, he knew he had heard it before, that smile, he knew he had seen it before, and recently. He tried not to blush as he pushed himself off of the ground.

"Oops," he said as he dusted himself off.

"Glad to see you are not has perfect as you seem," Hermione said.

"Oh you think I'm perfect?" Draco teased.

"You seem like it."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Draco whispered into Hermione's ear, and he could see the goosebumps appear on her skin.

"So Mr. Perfect, tell me about yourself?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Well I am a blue-eyed god." Draco said causing Hermione to laugh, she hit him on the arm and he grabbed her hand and held on to it. Hermione smiled. Draco was in heaven.

"What house are you in?" Hermione asked. Draco remembered seeing her smile at Harry, so he figured that she was in Gryffindor and didn't think she would be too happy knowing that he was a Slytherin so he lied.

"I'm in Ravenclaw."

"Oh, so handsome and smart?" Draco laughed and pulled Hermione into his chest.

"What about you?" he asked. Hermione smiled.

"Gryffindor," she said lightly almost a whisper. Draco smirked, he was right.

"Oh a brave Gryffindor, how brave are you?"

"Pretty brave."

"Brave enough to take a walk with me?" Draco asked, in a seductive way.

"Absolutely."

Draco and Hermione walked hand in hand, deeper and deeper into the woods. For some reason though, she didn't feel all that scared, who ever she was with, she knew he would protect her no matter what. Once they had left the heat bubble zone, Hermione began to shiver, and Draco gave her his dress robe to drape over her shoulders. She could smell him all around her, and he didn't smell cheap, she could smell his cologne and she knew it wasn't cheap. Once they reached a small clearing, Draco conquered up a blanket for them to lay on, and a small heat charm to keep them warm. Draco let go of Hermione's hand and sat down on the blanket, inviting her to join him. She only hesitated for a moment. Draco smiled as Hermione sat down.

"Now what?" Hermione asked she was nervous but she didn't want to show it. For some reason she felt safer with this stranger then she had ever felt with Ron.

"We watch the stars," Draco said and he laid down. Hermione didn't hesitate this time, she laid down beside Draco allowing his arm to come around her.

'I've never done this before," Hermione whispered.

"Done what?" Draco asked.

"Laid in the woods with a stranger."

"Do you feel comfortable?"

"Yes, I do," Hermione said smiling.

"How do you feel?" Draco asked wanting to know if she felt the same way he did at this very moment.

"I feel like everything is perfect, like I was meant to run late so I could meet you."

Draco smiled and pulled Hermione closer.

"I feel the same way," he said to Hermione.

"I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"I'm scared that when I find out who you are, and you find out who I am, we wont want this to continue."

"Do you feel our connection?"

"Of course I do."

"Nothing will keep me away from you then." Hermione simply nodded, she had a bad feeling about who this person was, and she prayed that she was just over reacting. They laid there almost the whole night, and at one point Hermione fell asleep. When she awoke, she found that her stranger was sleeping. She gently sat up and stared down at the person laying in front of her, could it be possible that she had found someone she could truly open up too? She never felt what she was feeling now with Ron. Thinking about it now, it felt as if she just fell in love with Ron because that was what she was supposed to do. Slowly her gentleman woke up, and saw her looking at him.

"Hmm like what you see?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you are ticklish," Draco said as he started tickling Hermione. Hermione screamed out in glee and tried to get away from Draco, but he grabbed her and pinned her to the ground, still tickling her.

"Ahh stop please," Hermione said barely getting it out as she was laughing so hard. Draco suddenly stopped and looked into Hermione's eyes. Hermione nodded, and Draco leaned in and brushed his lips softly against hers.

Very slowly he kissed her lips. He let his tongue out touching her lips asking for entry, and Hermione opened her mouth. Draco let his tongue touch Hermione's tongue ever so lightly, waiting for her response, which he got right away. Slowly Draco deepened the kiss, and soon there were in a heavy passionate kissing session. Draco was alive, he had found his hearts other half and he didn't care who was behind the mask, he would make her love him. With her he was allowed to be himself, and he prayed that his identity wouldn't scare her away. He had to tell her who he was before this went any further. Draco pulled away and looked deep into his soul's mate's eyes.

"I need you to know who I am, and I need to know who you are before this goes any further." Draco said seriously.

Hermione nodded.

"On the count of three we will take each other mask off ok?"

"Okay," Hermione said, getting out her wand.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Hermione and Draco said the spell that would take off each others mask.

"Oh my god," Hermione said.

"Hermione?" Draco asked.

"Draco?" Hermione asked.

* * *

Nice and Fluffy. I hope you guys liked it. If you have any idea's or want to see something in this fic just tell me and I'll see if it works, and if it does, I'll use it. If you guys want to add me on myspace, go ahead, its on my profile (the link to my myspace profile.)

Also, be kind, leave a review ;)

--Nickie Thorn


	8. The Aftermath

I know, it's been a month, and I am sooo sorry. Things have been crazy.

p.s I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

Hermione stared at Draco, thoughts flying through her head so fast she had no time to comprehend them. The whole night she was with Draco. This whole fairy tale had been with Draco. She had kissed Draco. Suddenly Hermione felt dizzy she went to grab the nearest tree, but she never made it.

"Hermione?" Draco asked, knelling beside Hermione's fainted body. "Hermione please wake up," Draco pleaded. Slowly her eyes opened.

"What happened?"

"You fainted."

"What? Why am I with you?"

"Hermione?"

"Why are you calling me Hermione?"

"You don't remember?" Draco asked, and then it all came rushing back, her being late, dancing with Draco, spending the night with him, and the kiss that ended with them taking off their masks. Hermione sat up, and Draco tried to help her.

"Don't touch me."

"Hermione, please…" Draco said, she looked up at him and saw the fear in his eyes.

"Just don't touch me," she whispered. She had no idea what to do, she just had the best night of her life with her one enemy she ever had. Everything about the night had felt so perfect, and now that was all ruined. She needed to get away from him, needed to run as far as she could from him.

"I need to go," Hermione mumbled. She picked herself up off of the ground, and began walking in the direction she hoped was the way back to the castle.

"Hermione please just talk to me."

"No."

"Please…"

Hermione kept walking, she had started to cry, and didn't want him seeing that he had got to her. Hermione could see the castle as the she approached the edge of the woods, she quickened her pace she just wanted to have a hot bath and forget all about last night.

Suddenly she could feel a hand grab her and push her against a tree gently. Of course it was Draco, all of her senses sprung to life, his simple touch made her feel more alive. As if she was living in black and white before and now everything was colour.

"I'm going to kiss you."

"No," she said so softly she didn't know if he heard her.

Draco gently kissed her lips, instantly Hermione responded. It felt so natural, so right. She kissed Draco back with more passion then she ever thought she had in her.

Out of no where Hermione pulled away, what the hell was wrong with her. This boy had tormented her for years, and now she was willingly kissing him? She pushed Draco roughly away from her.

"Don't you ever touch me again."

"Hermione relax, let's just talk about what happened." Draco was not about to let her get away from him without a fight.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Well I have something I would like to say to you, seeing as you know we just kissed."

"You kissed me after I asked you to leave me alone."

"You don't really want me to leave you alone."

"And how would you know that, Malfoy?"

"I could tell."

"Oh yeah I forgot, you are the Slytherin King, no one would dare turn you down right? But you know what you are to me Malfoy?

"What?"

"You are scum, Death Eater scum." She had no idea why she said that to him, she wanted to be as mean and nasty as she could, she wanted to hurt him.

"How dare you say that to me," Draco was starting to get mad at Hermione, she had no right to say those things to him.

"How dare I say that to you? So it's okay for you to call me a mudblood, for years but the second someone shows you the truth about yourself, you get all offended?"

"But you are a mudblood," Draco said without thinking.

Hermione couldn't decide whether or not to slap him or walk away, in the end she did both.

"Hermione, I'm sorry," Draco yelled after her holding his sore face.

Hermione ran all the way back to her room crying.

"I hate him," she screamed ripping off her dress. All she wanted to do was burn it, she never wanted to her once beautiful dress ever again. She let herself fall to the floor, heart wrenching sobs shook her body to the core. The thing was, she wanted Draco more then she wanted anyone else in her life. She wanted the man behind the mask to be someone else, anyone else besides Malfoy. How could she fancy someone she was so against? Someone who never showed that he knew how to care for anyone but himself? She wanted the man behind the mask, but did she still want him when he was Malfoy? After awhile her sobs slowed, and then stopped altogether. She allowed herself to look in the mirror, her make-up had run down her face, her eyes where all swollen from crying, and her lips were ringed with red. She looked a mess, and yet when she looked in the mirror, she didn't see all of that. She saw someone new, someone who was worthy of a purebloods affections. She smiled at herself, she had kissed Malfoy, and she wanted to do it again.

Draco slowly made his way back to the clearing in the woods, where he and Hermione had slept all night. He bent down and picked up the mask that Hermione had been wearing. It was even more beautiful now that he was looking at it closely: just like Hermione. Out of all the girls in Hogwarts, he never would have chosen Hermione out of a crowd, but now he knew that there could be a thousand girls, and he would find Hermione with no problem. He hated that he let himself be so vulnerable. If it had been anyone else he knew his cover would have been blown, but he knew Hermione wouldn't talk. Even if she was just saving herself. He needed to talk to her, he prayed that she would listen to him. He knew he had to wait a little while, see how she reacted when she saw him. By the time Draco returned to the Slytherin common room it was almost dusk. No one looked up when he entered they were all used to Draco disappearing for hours or days at a time. All of them assumed that he was either off having sex with a girl, or off doing Death Eater stuff. When he entered his room, there was a letter sitting on his bed, sighing he walked over and read it:

_Draco,_

_As you know your time is almost here, there is no need to feel afraid Draco. You will be accepted right into his inner circle. You are my son, and he expects great things from you._

_L.M._

Anger poured through Draco, he knew his father wanted him to become a Death Eater, but Draco never wanted to become one, as much as his father wanted him to be one. So much had changed, he needed to think of a way to get out of this or he was going to be stuck for life, that is if he wanted to get out. He ran down to the common room and threw the letter into the fire, watching as it caught fire and burned. He knew that he was ruthless enough to become a Death Eater, he knew that he could kill countless people and not care. But he also knew that it would eventually eat him apart, maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day.

No matter what path Draco took, he would make the most of his life. He tried not to think about last night, but he couldn't help it. If he could feel what he felt again last night, he knew he would never do anything that would risk losing that. So that left him to think, he had to make one of the hardest decisions of his life: Did he follow his heart? Or did he follow his brain?

---

Two weeks had past since the Christmas ball, and Hermione had avoided Draco so fiercely, she was almost late to all of her classes. She knew that it was wrong to avoid him, and that she would have to speak to him sooner or later but she dreaded that moment more then anything.

"Granger," a voice called out to her, she knew who it was and pretended she didn't hear him.

"Granger, you can pretend not to hear me all you want, I'm just going to follow you till you acknowledge me."

"What do you want?" Hermione asked, turning around.

"I want to talk to you."

"Fine you want to talk to me so badly, tonight ten by the pond, don't be late." Hermione stalked off to her room, before Draco could say anything else to her.

Ten came way too quickly for Hermione. Part of her wanted to see Draco and part of her didn't. Part of her wanted to kiss Draco and part of her wanted to run away screaming from him. She was so confused. She hate to admit it but she took a little extra time getting ready for her meeting. At nine-fifty she headed down to the pond.

Draco was at the pond at nine, not wanting to be late. He had spent the rest of the day wondering what to say to Hermione. He still had no clue. He could just leave her alone, and follow his fathers' wishes, or he could fall for Hermione even more then he already had, and risk everything. Was Hermione worth it? Was she worth losing everything? They had one night together, one night. He didn't even know what he felt for Hermione, all he knew is that when he was with her or kissing her it was as if he could do no wrong, no harm would ever come to him. Thoughts of being a Death Eater, or Voldemort where so far away and it felt wonderful.

"Malfoy," said a soft female voice. Draco knew who it was, but could not force himself to look at her, he feared he would have no control, and end up kissing her again.

"Granger."

"You wanted to talk, so talk."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it. It's going to get better, and juicier. I promise ;)

Please review, they really make my day.

Also, if mslupin21 is reading this, if you could get into contact with me, that would be wonderful.

Review :)

Oh, if you tried to add me on myspace, and i did not accept you try again, I was having some issues with some people and had to make my profile private, and I was not adding anyone.

--Nickie Thorn.


	9. His Story

Draco Malfoy was a spitting image of his father, some might even say he was the better looking of the two. But Draco wasn't his father, he never came close. The first time Draco met Voldemort, he knew that he had no choice the dark lord would be his life. Ever since he was a little boy his father told him how purebloods where something special, better then the rest of the magic community. He told him that one day he would see how great it was to be a pureblood, that one day he would be worshiped.

Draco was only fourteen when he first tortured a young girl his own age, a muggle of course. She begged and pleaded with him to stop, she even offered her self to him if he would stop. He knew he couldn't he was being tested and to fail would cost him his life. He kept her alive all night, punching, kicking, spitting on her, and of course Crucio. At dawn he was asked to leave the room, and his father went in, Draco heard the young girl scream, and then it went quiet. His father had killed her, he knew that it would happen but it was still hard for him. His father told him how proud Voldemort would be of him, how ruthless he was, and how he would be a good servant to him. What Draco's father did not know, was that Draco cried himself to sleep every night for a month, until he felt numb.

Soon nothing fazed him, torturing became a second nature. Their screams rolled off his back, their tears meant nothing to him, he really had become ruthless. He joined the rest of the death eaters at their parties, they had one at least once a month there were not by any means a small affair. They were grand parties praising themselves on being purebloods. Draco had lost his virginity at one of the parties, he had too much to drink and there was a very perky blonde following him around. He had grabbed her and kissed her, grabbing her breast right in the middle of everyone. The Death Eaters had cheered him on, and soon Draco and the blonde had stumbled into a private room, they did it right there on the floor. Draco never saw her again, and he never found out her name. After that night he would fuck any girl, no matter what she looked like as long as she was a pureblood, there was a small pleasure at knowing he could have anyone he wanted.

The first time he killed, Voldemort and his father had been present both watching making sure he did not back down. She was a young muggle, who the lesser Death Eaters had just raped and beat up. She was different, she didn't look at Draco with fear, but with acceptance and remorse.

"You don't have to do this," said the young woman.

"Shut up muggle," hissed Voldemort.

"You are young, you can change your life around, you don't have to become a murder."

"Turn around," Draco said. The young women nodded.

"I forgive you." She said quietly.

"Avada Kedavra." The women instantly fell to the ground, a single tear streaming down her face, and her hand on her stomach she had been eight months pregnant.

"Next time Draco don't tell them to turn around, the best thing about killing is watching the life drain out of their eyes." Voldemort said, patting Draco on the back as a sign of approval.

It didn't take long for Draco to become Voldemort's right hand man, after his father of course. During the summer's he would train almost everyday, learning charms and spells that he would never find in a book at Hogwarts. He could tell that some of Voldemorts' other followers where starting to get jealous, Draco had learn stuff that even they hadn't and he wasn't even a full death eater, he didn't even carry the mark the rest of them did.

Draco was dressing himself, he just fucked another blonde, and he was getting antsy he just wanted to get back to the party and drink himself silly.

"Hey Draco," said a voice right behind him, Draco reached for his wand and turned around. The voice then punched him in his face knocking him out cold.

When Draco woke up he was tied up and laying on a hard cold floor.

"Nice of you to finally join us Draco," said a cloaked figure.

Draco let his eye adjust to the dim light and saw that he was surrounded by half a dozen Death Eaters all cloaked and wands pointed at him.

"What do you want?" Draco asked as cruelly as he could.

"You are not one of us, so why does the dark lord treat you as you are above us?" Said the closest figure, who kicked Draco in the face causing his nose to break. "You bleed just like us."

"Fuck you, I am better then you." Draco said spitting out the blood that had entered his mouth.

"Oh yeah?" said another cloaked figure

"Yeah."

Then the all dropped their wands and began kicking and hitting any piece of Draco they could reach, and everything went dark.

---

"Daddy!" screamed a small brunette with piercing blue eyes. "Daddy, there is a boy in the fields, I think he might be sleeping."

"Where Alyssa?" asked a tall man with matching eyes.

"Near the road by the carrots," piped four year old Alyssa.

"Come on daddy, I'll show you," she said as she went tearing through the fields.

What met the farmers eyes where nothing he had ever seen.

"Alyssa go tell your mummie that she needs to get the doctor and bring him to the house, can you do that?" Young Alyssa nodded her head and ran off yelling for her mum.

A young boy no more then seventeen, with striking blonde hair laid cut and bruised. His arm in weird unnatural position from being broken. His clothes where ripped and his chest was bleeding from a huge cut.

Slowly the man bent down and reached for the boys' wrist checking for a pulse, by some miracle there was one.

"Thank the heavens," mumbled the farmer. Then the boy moaned, and began to stir.

"You are going to be okay son, help is coming for you."

---

The boy opened his eyes and was surrounded by a strange environment, nothing looked remotely familiar to him, he slowly tried to sit up and was met with an unbearable pain from his whole body. He unwilling let out a small whimper, but loud enough for a petite women with dark hair to come into the room.

"Oh I'm so glad you have woken up, the doctor said you could be in a coma for months."

"Doctor?" asked the boy.

"Yes you know that's why you are wearing that cast and that's why your cuts are all fixed, fifty stitches for the one across your chest."

Slowly the boy unbuttoned his top only to be greeted with a huge cut that did indeed have fifty stitches in it. The rest of his chest was black and blue, and he had several other cuts.

"What happened to me?" He whispered quietly.

"We where hoping you could tell us that."

He could not remember, in fact he couldn't remember anything, he didn't even know his name, his whole past was blank. The strange thing about that was he felt happy that he couldn't remember anything. Maybe there was a reason he chose not to remember anything.

"What's your name?" asked the brunette.

"I…I don't know."

"Well then, let's name you, the doctor said you might have temporary memory loss, from the concussion," she said cheerfully.

"Oh…"

"So what about Peter?"

"No."

"Billy?"

"That's even worse."

"Ha ha sorry," chuckled the girl.

"Out of names?"

"You wish, lets see, let me think… Oh I know! You seem to be indestructible, like Superman, so how about Clark?"

"Clark?"

"Yeah Clark."

"Hmm… I like it."

"Good it settled then, Clark it is. I'm going to go to the doctor so he can look at you now that you are awake, my name is Toria by the way, do you need anything?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"Who is Superman?"

"Oh you," Toria said laughing.

Toria had been given the task of healing Clark. As such she spent a lot of time with Clark and Clark was starting to develop feeling for her. One day when Toria had deemed Clark strong enough to go for a walk, he had asked Toria to join him on a picnic, she said she would be honored but made it very clear that he was not allowed to carry the picnic basket. At that Clark laughed but agreed as long as he could hold on to her hand. Toria nodded blushing fiercely.

"Do you remember anything?" asked Toria.

"No, none at all."

"Do you wish you could?"

"There is no place I rather be then here with you."

"Thank you."

Toria had packed them egg sandwiches and an apple each. They both sat and ate in silence, simply enjoying each others company. After they had finished eating they laid down and Clark pulled Toria close to him.

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Can I kiss you?"

"I thought you would never ask."

Clark smiled and pulled Toria's face to his own and he kissed her. His whole body came alive. It was like there where fireworks in his chest and they were all going off. He knew in that instant that he had never felt this way before, and he needed to cherish it before it all went away.

"Toria! Ew why are you kissing a boy?" giggled Alyssa, who had crept up on them. Clark and Toria looked over at Alyssa and both burst out laughing. That moment couldn't have gotten anymore perfect. Toria reached over and grabbed Alyssa and began tickling her, Alyssa squealed and started running and Toria got up chasing her.

Clark smiled to himself, everything was so perfect.

July quickly turned into August and August was quickly ending with only three days left. Clark was completely healed and his scar across his chest was slowly fading. He had learned how to work on a farm and was helping out with the family that had saved his life. It felt as if Clark had to learn everything from scratch it was as if he had never used anything before. He did not know how to turn on a t.v. or work a phone. Toria found all this rather funny. Clark however knew something wasn't right, the doctor said that he should be able to remember how to use the phone and t.v. even with his memory gone, which left the eerie thought, if he didn't know how to use this stuff…where did he come from?

Him and Toria had gone for a walk to there favourite spot, at the edge of a cliff to watch the sunset and the stars. Clark could feel the air around him changing, he knew something was going to happen, and he wanted to make sure the Toria would be standing at his side when all of this went down.

"I love you." Clark said, he knew Toria already knew how he felt, he had just never said it before.

"I love you too," she said smiling.

"Will you do something for me then?

"What?"

"Will you marry me?" Clark asked pulling out a very simple gold band. He had gotten it from Toria's father when he had asked him for permission.

"Oh Clark, of course I will." Clark slipped the ring on her finger, and she started kissing him hard.

The sun had set and the moon was now shining brighter then he had ever seen, very slowly they made love to each other, they fit so perfectly.

"I can't wait to tell my mother," Toria said happily.

"Well then let's go tell her now."

Toria jumped up grabbing her clothes and throwing them on, Clark had never seen her so excited, and it was amazing.

"I'm going to be your husband," Clark said as he pulled Toria in for a kiss.

"And I'm going to be your wife."

They both walked hand in hand back to the house.

The second they entered the house they knew something was wrong. Both of Toria's parents where slumped on the floor.

"Mom!" Toria screamed running over to her parents. She picked up her mothers wrist and found no pulse she did the same for her father.

"They are dead, Clark, oh my god, they are dead," tears began streaming down her face.

"Where is Alyssa?" Clark asked starting to panic, this isn't what was suppose to happen.

"Alyssa?!?" Toria screamed running threw the house trying to find her baby sister. She was hiding under her parents bed crying.

"Mummie isn't talking Toria mummie isn't talking," cried the little girl.

"It's okay sweetie mummie is just sleeping, why don't you go the doctors house and bring him over okay?"

"Okay," Alyssa said still crying.

"Clark what is going on?"

"I don't know."

"My my Draco Malfoy what have we here?"

Clark spun around to face a man that looked exactly like him, and then everything came rushing back. Voldemort, Death Eaters, Mudbloods, Magic, and the night the Death Eaters beat him up. His name was Draco, and he was a monster.

"Father," he said slowly, trying not to look at Toria.

"What have we here? You living with muggles? Can't have that now can we?"

"Muggles?" Toria said slowly. "Clark what is going on, who is this man."

"He is my father, and a muggle is someone who can not do magic, like you."

"What do you mean magic? There is no such thing"

"I ensure you there is muggle, I killed your parents with it," the older Malfoy said.

"You killed my parents? Why?" Toria screamed dropping to the ground in tears. Instantly Draco dropped down to the ground and grabbed Toria.

"I love you, you know that, I will always love you, I'm sorry I've brought you so much pain," Draco whispered to her.

"You came for me, now lets go" Draco said firmly trying anything he could to make sure Toria was not killed.

"Not so fast my dear son, it seems that you have feelings for this muggle."

"No father I don't now lets go." Draco said with every once of strength he could muster.

"Then kill her."

Draco turned to face Toria panic in her eyes.

"Surely father you would not want me to kill the person who saved me from death."

"I don't care who she is just kill her or I will."

"Please Clark don't do this, I love you," Toria pleaded with him.

"I need a wand," Draco said slowly, he knew that Toria wasn't going to make it out of this alive, and he would rather kill her then have his father do it.

"Here," Draco's father said passing Draco his wand.

"Please forgive me Toria, Avada Kedavra" Draco yelled, a stream of green light pouring out of his wand and hitting Toria straight in the chest. A single tear streamed down his face.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered softly. Draco turned to his father "Let's go." Eager to leave so he wouldn't have to see the love of his life dead, and not wanting Alyssa to return when they were still there.

---

"I loved Toria more then I've ever loved anything, she changed the man I was about to become, she showed me the kindness of muggles, she showed me that is okay to love someone different then yourself. Ever since that day I no longer hated muggles, I no longer valued being a pureblood over everything. It was as if a light that had been turned off, finally got switched back on. My heart has never been whole, not even with Toria, when I was with her I knew something was missing, I knew that one day my memories would come back, and then they did."

Draco stopped talking and looked up into Hermione's eyes "I never ever thought I would feel a shred of what I felt with Toria again, but Hermione when I look up into your eyes I feel as if you are the one to make me whole, for the first time ever."

"Oh Draco," Hermione said softly, looking deep into Draco's eyes. Then very slowly she lifted her head and kissed Draco.

* * *

Okay so another chapter done, it took me a month because this is the story of Draco and I wanted it to be perfect. Can you believe it only 5 more days till the last book? wow time sure has flown. There will not be another chapter till at least a week after DH comes out. Giving you all lots of time to read it. Even though the 7 books are done, I hope many of you will still come and read my fan fic. 

Please review!

I love you all.

--Nickie Thorn.


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